REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama (August 24, 2023) – History was made for Army Contracting Command as the Regional Contracting Center-Operation Inherent Resolve stood up comprised of volunteers from five ACC units in August at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
Lt. Col. Pedro Costas, RCC-OIR commander, and Master Sgt. Renae Trujillo, RCC-OIR senior enlisted advisor, lead the RCC-OIR that is the first time that an ACC battalion-sized contracting headquarters was formed from several units rather than one unit.
ACC leadership formed RCC-OIR from volunteers of the 411th Contracting Support Brigade based at Camp Humphreys, Korea; 414th CSB from Vicenza, Italy; ACC-Rock Island, Illinois; 922nd Contracting Battalion from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 923rd CBN of Fort Riley, Kansas. Once the decision was made to form the unit through volunteers, there were many volunteers across the ACC enterprise for the mission.
The RCC-OIR staff supports U.S. Central Command and forward operating bases across the region, providing critical life support services to coalition forces. Soldiers of RCC-OIR provide contracting support for supplies, services and construction for coalition and NATO forces throughout Iraq.
“What makes this a momentous occasion is that every single Soldier in the battalion headquarters is a volunteer from across all corners of Army Contracting Command,” Costas said. “They were not told to deploy and take on this mission smack in the middle of the fourth quarter, but rather raised their hands and said, 'Send me there; that is where I need to be!'"
As the only contracting organization in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, there are benefits of having the RCC-OIR staff from several units.
“This innovative strategy from ACC to have the rotation led by a volunteered-formed battalion has the potential to pay dividends in that it allows the traditional battalion rotations to focus on their supported Army Divisions while reducing turbulence by letting them adhere to their customer's deployment timelines,” Costas said.
“It's an honor to be part of leading this dynamic team and ultimately supporting the warfighter across the U.S. Central Command area of operations,” Trujillo added.
About Army Contracting Command
The Army Contracting Command is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. From food and clothing to bullets and bombs; from tanks and trucks to boats and aircraft; from Soldiers' weapons to the installations where they work and live with their families, ACC ensures Soldiers have what they need to be successful. As the Army's principal buying agent, ACC supports Army readiness and modernization by using best practices and expert-level oversight to provide warfighters with premier contracting support. The command accomplishes its global operational missions with a professional workforce of Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians, foreign local nationals and contractors at more than 100 locations worldwide.
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